Just when you think that the Vatican’s “trial of the century” against a cardinal and nine other defendants for various alleged financial crimes can’t get any more surreal, two developments pop out of the woodwork to prove you wrong. A hearing Thursday produced both a previously unknown, and unauthorized, recording of a phone call with … Read more
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin addressed the U.N. COP27 climate summit Tuesday, urging net-zero emissions and warning climate change “will not wait for us.” Speaking for Pope Francis, Cardinal Parolin told the dignitaries gathered in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Skeikh that the Holy See is fully committed to the goal of … Read more
The Vatican’s longtime investment banker testified Monday that he repeatedly voiced concerns about a fund that was investing in a troubled London property, but said the Holy See’s secretariat of state insisted on pursuing the deal even as it lost money. Enrico Crasso said he was very much on the sidelines of the London deal, … Read more
Pope Francis’ second-in-command, Cdl. Pietro Parolin, personally intervened to bar Cdl. Raymond Burke from entering Vatican offices over Burke’s conscientious objection to the abortion-tainted COVID-19 vaccine. Sources at the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints told Church Militant that Burke, a member of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, was recently stopped at … Read more
Responding to a query about his Dec. 23 ruling mandating vaccination for all Vatican employees and visitors who haven’t recently recovered from COVID-19, the Vatican secretary of state indicated religious exemptions are not ‘justified’ with respect to mRNA vaccines. Cardinal Pietro Parolin has said Vatican employees seeking to be exempt from the Vatican’s new vaccine … Read more
As COVID cases continue to rise in Italy due to the new Omicron variant, the Vatican on Thursday imposed a vaccine mandate, issuing a decree requiring all employees to possess a “Green Pass” proving vaccination against the coronavirus. This follows a previous decree from the Vatican in September requiring anyone entering Vatican City State to … Read more
Pope Francis last month made his first “appearance” at the ongoing Vatican trial over a London property deal that led to massive financial losses for the Holy See when his name came up in videotaped testimony of suspect-turned-star witness, Msgr. Alberto Perlasca. During the most recent hearing on Nov. 17, the recording showed Msgr. Perlasca, … Read more
Somewhere out in the ocean right now, a small buoy is measuring wave direction and speed, along with barometric pressure and water temperature, feeding that data back to observatories. Even small upticks or downticks may signal the first stirrings of what could become a devastating storm. You don’t need special equipment, however, to detect warning … Read more
The Vatican secretary of state Cdl. Pietro Parolin has refused to confirm or deny reports that the gay cruising app Grindr may have been used to blackmail the Holy See into its secret deal with China. “At this point, also in the light of what has happened in recent days, I can say that no … Read more
Italian authorities announced on Monday that an arrest warrant has been issued for Gianluigi Torzi, who brokered the Vatican’s 2018 purchase of a London property. The Italian court order raises a startling assertion from Vatican authorities: that the Secretariat of State acted outside its legal authority when it invested hundreds of millions of euros of … Read more